Theological Systems Flashcards
Total depravity
(total inability) Man’s total lack of spiritual good and inability to do good before God
Rom 7:18 “I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh”
Unconditional election
An act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure
Rom 9:11 “though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad”
Limited atonement
The Reformed view that Christ’s death actually paid for the sins of those whom he knew would ultimately be saved. A preferable term for this view is “particular redemption” in that the power of the atonement is not limited, but rather it is fully effective for particular people
John 10:11 “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”
Irresistible grace
A term that refers to the fact that God effectively calls people and also gives them regeneration, both of which guarantee that we will respond in saving faith.
John 1:13 “born of God”
Perseverance
The doctrine that all those who are truly “born again” will be kept by God’s power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere until the end have been truly “born again.”
John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand”
Dispensationalism
- Began in 19th century with Darby (also put forth by Scofield)
- The distinction between Israel and the church as two groups in God’s overall plan, the pretribulational rapture of the church, a future literal fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel, and the dividing of biblical history into seven periods or “dispensations” of God’s ways of relating to his people
- insistence on interpreting biblical prophecies “literally where possible”
- 1 Thess 4:16-17
Liberalism
- man-centered: Bible is a human book (not God’s words, no supernatural), test of truth is experience (naturalism/materialism: natural/material world is all we can know), God loves all people, all religions worship God, man is not sinful, Jesus was a moral teacher (not a savior who died for us), salvation comes through self-improvement (Phil 4:8)
- Schleiermacher (1768-1834): father of modern liberalism; basis of religion found in experience; pantheistic tendencies; whereas ethics is a way of acting and science a way of knowing, by contrast, religion is a way of being.
Roman Catholicism
(Matt 16:18) - And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
a. Scripture plus church tradition (equal)
b. Authority of the pope and the church. Pope is infallible (Vatican 1)
c. Apocrypha is part of the Bible.
d. Prayer to Mary (as mediator). Immaculate conception (Mary also sinless)
e. Sacraments are necessary for salvation
f. Purgatory is a place of suffering/Prayers for the dead
Sacraments: Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Anointing of the sick, Marriage, Holy orders.
Pentecostalism
Traces its roots back to the Pentecost revival in the US in 1901. Doctrinal positions:
a. baptism in HS is ordinarily an event subsequent to conversion
b. baptism in HS is made evident by the sign of speaking in tongues
c. all the spiritual gifts mentioned in the NT are to be sought and used today
d. Acts 19:6 - And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.
